Help! Ipod, Mac, and PC

macrumors member

My main computer is an emac. I have an ipod that i've used with the emac for quite a while. Now i have a second computer, which is a dell. How do I get my music onto the dell? Just plugging it in doesn't work.

Can I upload my music files to a portable hard drive, and transfer them to the new computer that way?

macrumors 65816

You can't just connect the iPod to the Dell... Since you've been using it with your Mac exclusively, it's probably formatted with HFS+ which XP cannot read. My advice is to transfer the music over firewire (if your PC has firewire) or ethernet network.

macrumors G4

This kinda depends on how you want to interact with the music going forward. Do you want to try to keep both iTunes in synch or do you just want the bulk of your music on one system with occasional updates?

If you just want to move your music over, then format your external HD to FAT32 and copy your iTunes folder onto it. You should then be able to pick up your iTunes folder from your PC and move it across to the PC. IIRC, you just have to replace your PC iTunes folder with your old one. You will have to authorise that computer to play your iTMS songs

The iPod won't be recognised by the PC unless you reformat it or use Macopener software.

Moderator emeritus

You can't just connect the iPod to the Dell... Since you've been using it with your Mac exclusively, it's probably formatted with HFS+ which XP cannot read.

Click to expand...

Not quite right. If you have the iPod software on the Dell (CD or downloaded) then the connecting the iPod will prompt an app that reformats your iPod to FAT32 (pretty sure that's it) for Windows but you'll lose all the music on it. Nevertheless, you'll be able to connect the iPod to either computer after that.

BTW, the iPod reformatting software takes ages to load up. All this info is based on my experiences with a 4G too.

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